City Council

METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Chair Beauregard called the regular meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. Members Present: Councilor Simard, Councilor Zeigler, Councilor DiZoglio, Councilor Faretra, Councilor Finocchiaro, Councilor Saba, Councilor Saffie. Councilor Finocchiaro and Mayor Perry joined the meeting via Zoom. Councilor McCarty was absent Acceptance of the Agenda MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saba to accept the agenda. MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to amend the agenda to move TR-22-52 out of order after Consideration of Appointments. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent MOTION BY: Councilor Simard, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to accept the agenda as amended. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent Pledge of Allegiance/Invocation All rose for the Pledge of Allegiance and remained standing for Invocation and a Moment of Silence for Gus Blomgren a long-time educator in Methuen who passed away last week. Acceptance of Minutes – None Proclamations/Correspondence – None Presentations/Projects/Department Updates – None Consideration of Appointments: Methuen Police Department Patrol Officer David Souther to Permanent Police Sergeant MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to appoint. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) Sgt. Souther thanked the Mayor, Chief, Council, family and friends as well as members of the department for their support and encouragement. Chief McNamara stated there have been a number of great promotions and they have been wanting to have a formal ceremony to acknowledge it, a badge pinning. With the Mayor’s permission, he knows there is a special meeting coming up relative to the patrolmen’s contract, perhaps we could combine the two and have a special ceremony that night to acknowledge Sgt. Souther and the other promotions we made in the last six or seven months. TR-22-52 A Resolution Approving a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Agreement by and Between the City of Methuen and Factorial, Inc. MOTION BY: Councilor Saba, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. Community Development Director, Jack Wilson, explained changes he is asking the Council to consider. Council has before them some proposed language that changes/modifications in the agreement from the first read. These changes followed a meeting that he and Solicitor Rossetti had with the Massachusetts Office of Community Development which has encouraged them to include language and an acknowledgement by the property owner of the building in which Factorial is going to 1 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING be located. It’s not something that has been asked of us before. The language is very straightforward. It incorporates the fact that the property owner, which is the entity that the real estate tax bill is sent will pass along the tax burden, in this case, as well as the tax exemption on Factorial. That is all that has changed from the last time Council was presented with this document. He requested a motion to include that language. MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Saba to amend the agreement to adopt the revisions proposed by Director Wilson. Councilor DiZoglio said they are not going to own the building but are going to make the modifications to the property. Mr. Wilson agreed. He explained that the real estate taxes are billed to the property owner. For the benefit of a negotiated lease, Factorial will be responsible for the taxes. This just puts in writing, with a signature by the property owner, that they agree to those terms. Councilor DiZoglio said the TIF will be going to the property owners with the agreement that they will be paying the differences and they will be getting the benefits. Mr. Wilson said it is just that they are recognizing that the property owner gets the tax bill, but the amount of money will come from Factorial. Councilor DiZoglio asked if the owners would be pulling the permits for the building modifications. Mr. Wilson noted the owner recognizes the timeline for Factorial to get into the building. Tom Kelly, Factorial, said they will be handling the permitting. They had a meeting with the city last week. The package is ready to come July 1st to go for permit approval. It’s customary in lease agreements, in lease term, they have two five-year extension terms but the taxes are per lease. Mr. Wilson noted they had their first technical review committee meeting last week. They have not wasted any time in anticipation of coming here. UPON ROLL CALL: (to amend) 8 yes, 1 absent MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Simard to amend to insert 4(d) it is a good faith effort to hire local qualified contractors, vendors, and suppliers including without limitations to such local contractors, vendors and suppliers that employee or are engaged with unionized laborers and tradespersons in connection with the construction in operation with the project. The company will however retain all authority in the hiring of contractors, vendors, and suppliers subject to the applicable law. Councilor DiZoglio asked if the Council is allowed to make an amendment to the TIF after it is agreed upon. The Solicitor stated Council just did an amendment a moment ago. Councilor DiZoglio said that was with the Director and company agreement. He asked if Factorial is aware of the second amendment. Director Wilson said he has not seen the language. The Solicitor said as long as it goes through the approval process, there is no hinderance to a member of the body moving to amend. It’s a slight modification to the language pertaining to the company using best efforts, while at the same time the company retains all authority to hire or not hire individuals to work on the buildout. 2 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Councilor DiZoglio – noted in good faith shouldn’t this have been provided to the Director. He understands small changes but that small change it could change the whole outcome of how everyone looks at this. Councilor DiZoglio said he is not against hiring Methuen and hiring local and putting these words in the place of it. He wants to make sure everyone is in agreement with the amendment considering the Director was not aware of it. Councilor Zeigler said the only addition to it is adding a good faith effort to also engage with unionized labor. When we first looked at this agreement, it still had the same language of good faith effort for local contractors. It is just adding another branch to that. It doesn’t bind the contractor to engage in any which way. It is just a request that there is an effort made. Councilor DiZoglio said, at the last meeting, they stated that they don’t have a union contractor. They don’t have unions in their organization. He wants to make sure that we are not putting something out there for a reason of effort and putting them in a situation. Using unionized laborers to do work on their building might not be part of their procurement process. Solicitor Rossetti explained that it may be that Factorial doesn’t employee unionized staff, but it doesn’t prevent Factorial from considering engagement with contractors who use unionized staff. There is a difference. Councilor DiZoglio said Factorial may think of it as a cost issue for them and might not consider it as a good faith. Solicitor Rossetti directed the Council’s attention to the fact that even as amended, if the amendment is approved, Factorial would still retain all authority regarding the hiring of contractors, vendors, and suppliers. Councilor DiZoglio said he doesn’t want to put it out there, that they’re not going to, or will not do, or anything if they decide not to go that route. Because this Council is making an amendment to say we have to have unions as a potential opportunity for them and Factorial decides not to. He doesn’t want their company to be left on a hook that they didn’t hire unionized workers, if they decide not to go in that direction. This was just presented to Council. He didn’t see an email about this and would have had more questions about this. Councilor Saba said he understands the thought of this but just a verbal commitment to try to hire locally and unionize is good enough. We’re not their business partners. We are not putting our houses on the line. We’re not committing and having to figure out how to get this project done. It is unfair to put these extra, even if it is just a good faith effort. When we put it in writing, it’s unfair that we put this on them. He will be a “no”. Councilor Faretra said it is unfair to bring this amendment last minute without even speaking to the Director. He understands its good faith, but once again he’ll take the company’s word who is looking to make a forty-five million dollar investment into a property that they are moving into and looking to be here for at least fifteen years and bringing jobs in. To him, that word and that price tag is enough for him to think that they are going to make that investment. He has to vote “no” on this amendment. Councilor Simard commented that it was a show of good faith by Councilor Zeigler. She is always thinking of the city. Once this is approved, this resolution will be buried forever, and Factorial will just live up to their commitment to the tax break. Then we will go from there. Councilor Zeigler clarified that she did have some conversation with the Director and while he said that he did not see the language, she did not have a chance to give him the language prior to the 3 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING meeting. However, they did have a conversation. She did express her intention to incorporate some language and the language is minor. When we looked at this before, as she said earlier, we did have language of good faith effort to hire locally. That is not a change. There is just a phrase in there that also says “if they so choose to engage with unionized labor as well as a suggestion”. This is not making a declaration that this needs to happen. This is just saying that this is something that they could explore as well so it doesn’t hinder business in any way. This is a large project for the city. There are a lot of jobs in the city as with our first conversation it is important to her that we talk about hiring local. This is part of it as a Council. This is our duty to also have this conversation. She understands by the tone of the Council that there isn’t much willingness to incorporate this language but she thinks this is a conversation that we should be having going forward as to how we are going to have other avenues to spark conversation around how we are investing within our community, how we are ensuring that we are having good partnerships with any businesses coming into the city and just starting the conversation about what other avenues of value that can be brought into our city. This is a good step forward. She hoped Councilors will have a second thought on this and be in support. Councilor Finocchiaro noted for the record and to kind of inquire since I doesn’t have the language in front of me. Under the current TIF that was posted on the website under 4(d) it currently says “the company to make a good faith effort to explore opportunities subject to applicable law and qualifications to hire qualified local contractors, vendors, and suppliers, in connection with construction and operation of the project. The company, however, will retain all authority regarding the hiring of contractors, vendors, and suppliers, subject to applicable law. She is just looking for the phrase that was added and where it was specifically added that’s not what was currently in existence” as a Point of Information before noting her thoughts. Councilor Zeigler said the phrase is “or engaged” It is after suppliers that employee or engage unionized laborers or tradespersons in connection with the construction and operation of the project. That is the entire phrase that was added. Councilor Finocchiaro agreed with what has been said before that it would be great to have this be a more comprehensive process. However, even though it is currently stated in there with a good faith effort of local contractors it is something that she’s been very interested in for years and even previous TIFs that we’ve approved. When she offered amendments even ones just generally saying about locally wasn’t able to get that completed. She is feeling positive about what’s currently there and the statement that Councilor Zeigler put forward doesn’t obligate the business to do anything as far as she reads it. having a general statement saying that you know we support this being an option for the business, she doesn’t think that there is anything wrong with that and she would support this amendment. In response to Councilor Finocchiaro, Mr. Wilson said it is the company’s opinion on this amendment that matters and the state not having the benefit of having it. This document including the language that he brought to Council last week with regard to including the property owner has been all vetted as it has been for the last several months through the appropriate channels. While he appreciates this motion by the Councilor, he would suggest that this whole contract would have to be revisited by the company because this is the first time they have seen it. His opinion is on behalf of the city on points that were made earlier. This is about the company to negotiate a deal to try to relocate here to Methuen. He advised the Council in their consideration of this motion that we’ll find ourselves going back to the company for a vetting of this language by them and also by the office of community development. In doing so, it may not keep us on the track we hope to remain. He is not putting 4 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING pressure on the Council to act. It is just timelining the schedule of what they plan to do and what the plan to do as soon as possible. They’ve already had meetings on permitting. He hoped we wouldn’t have at any point a roadblock that would keep us from staying on that schedule. MOTION BY: Councilor Finocchiaro to table to Council’s next special meeting next week to give the opportunity for the company to review and for the city to review and come back to city council for feedback. Chair Beauregard said Council can only have one motion on the floor at a time. There is a motion and second to amend the item with this language. Council needs to take a vote on that. Mr. Wilson continued by saying there is an agreement before Council with good faith efforts to support that in the months it has been negotiated. Councilor Finocchiaro said her understanding is if the person who put the motion to amend forward (Clr. Zeigler) and the person who seconded if they were to accept the amendment to include the table then it would be admissible. UPON ROLL CALL: (second amendment) 6 no, 2 yes (Clr. Finocchiaro, Clr. Zeigler), 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Simard to approve as amended. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Joe Bella, 77 E Ford Street, Vice-President/Historian of the Methuen Historical Society, invited everyone to a Historical Society event on Tuesday, June 21st at 5:00 p.m. which is the unveiling of the soon to be installed large sign of the Marque Lafayette’s last visit to Methuen back on June 21st 1825. A year ago June 7th, at the request of Councilor Finocchiaro cosponsored by Councilors David Beauregard, Nicholas DiZoglio, Eunice Zeigler, a resolution was adopted Proclaiming June 21st as the day of Methuen’s Historical Lafayette’s visit referring to the important date of June 21st, 1825. At the June 21st event they will be handing out flyers explaining to the public the information concerning that full day visit by Marque and General Lafayette in 1825. June 21st at 5:00 p.m. in front of the Quinn Building on Broadway. The sign will be erected in a couple of weeks and unveiled by the society on the 21st. MAYOR’S REPORT Mayor Perry reported the following items to the Council. The Police department 911 dispatch center is going through a major upgrade. The Council approved over $50,000 in funding through a 911 support and incentive grant that Captain Haggar took the lead on, used to upgrade the dispatch center. If you drive around the rear of the police department today, you will see a mobile 911 center, which the dispatchers are operating out of for the past seven days. The entire dispatch center has been dismantled. The walls have been painted, the floors refinished, and is totally empty. Kudos to the teamwork of the police officers, the custodian, DPW electricians, the staff throughout the city who supported the project, very tight impressive timeline to complete it. You can’t just take the 911 emergency center for the city offline. Thus, moving the operations to the mobile unit. Kudos to the state 911 for assisting us with the mobile unit. Tomorrow, Watson furniture is installing three new dispatch stations. These stations are the latest ergonomic friendly stations that allow dispatchers to stand while dispatching. Due to the size of Methuen, the fourth 911 position was approved by the state 5 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING 911 to be added. The dispatch center will be fully online by Thursday. He encouraged Councilors to come by the MPD and take a look. The Farmers’ Market begins Friday, June 17th and continues every Friday through the last Friday in October. The COVID vaccines are still available. But now they are available every Saturday in June from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Melina Farms. He congratulated and welcomed Melina Farms for establishing their community garden. There is more to come there. In partnership with First Congregational Church we have established an event on Saturday, June 18th from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall in celebration Juneteenth Day. There will be food provided, entertainment, and speakers. Also, on Saturday, June 18th, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. is the annual Veterans’ cookout at Forest Lake. Participants must register in advance by calling the Veterans’ office at 978-983-8585. Saturday, June 25th is hazardous waste day 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the transfer station on Huntington Avenue. Individuals may check the city website for a list of items that will be accepted or call the transfer station 978-983-8892. The fireworks will be July 9th at the Loop. There will be more details to follow. Captain Haggar has just about received approval from the state to shut down the ramp behind the Loop. The people gathered in the Loop will have a great view of the fireworks which will be shot from the ramp. Our Rec department, MPD, DPW, Fire Department are all working together to make this a successful event as it was last year. Councilor Faretra said there are signs all over Methuen about illegal dumping. He received a call from a constituent who had a couch dumped in front of their house. They wanted to know how to report that. He suggested seeclickfix. He asked if there is another way other than using seeclickfix where someone can report illegal dumping. Mayor Perry said the resident could call DPW. He and the Chief are meeting this week to move on the cameras. The cameras will assist in that regard as well. “If you see something, say something.” We’ve got to take a more disciplined approached because these couches and things are coming from other communities. If you see the license plate of somebody dropping it, jot it down, call the police department, turn it in and let’s get some action and fines going so that people understand not to dump. Call DPW and they can arrange for pickup. Councilor Faretra noted if someone gets a plate number, they can call the non-emergency number at the police department. Councilor Faretra said he spoke with the Chief of Police earlier. The rumors are that the field was damaged Saturday night during graduation. Nobody has refuted those rumors. He asked the Mayor to provide an update. It was chaotic towards the end of the night. Mayor Perry agreed to provide something to Council. Councilor Finocchiaro inquired about the Oakland Ave water main break that affected a lot of homes. Her understanding is that it is mostly sorted out. She asked if there was anything the city could do when it affects so many houses outside of what we are currently doing. Mayor Perry explained Oakland Avenue break happened this morning. the city does update the website. One of the things we could do, he wants to be careful here, we have reverse 911 and some people like it and some people don’t but it is the quickest easiest way to get information to the most households in the city about something that is going on especially something of an emergency nature 6 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING like that. The Mayor commended DPW and the water department for their quick response to it and their ability to fix it. This isn’t the time of year that we run into these kind of things. It is usually the colder months. Kudos to them for the quick response and to the Council for the projects they approved as part of the ARPA are going to put us in a much better position to minimize. He doesn’t want to say take away because as luck would have it, it could be a street we don’t do is the street that we will have a water main break. The long-term approach with all the projects that we look at with ARPA we look at some of the projects we are doing are going to minimize the impact of these water main breaks. The residents have to understand even though it might not be the upper most in anybody’s mind, all of these pipes that burst go back to the turn of the century. He went out on a couple of them and the water department gave him a couple of pieces of pipe dating back to the early 1900s from the pipes that burst and there was more than one last year. It was from Center Street. He wants to see what the Council feels. Could we use the reverse 911 to get information to broader pieces of the city? Some people see that as annoying. It illustrates on sometimes the over dependency on the social media aspect of our communication plan. Not everybody is looking at that. We need a better way to get information out to people especially in a neighborhood itself. Reverse 911 would be his first choice because we can limit it to certain groups or sections of the city. Councilor Finocchiaro asked if the Mayor could provide department head feedback that they are missing that could help them respond. We are not replacing the pipes throughout the city so it is going to be an issue we continue to have. Having a sick family member, she is interested to see how Methuen is doing in regard to COVID. She knows that there was an up-tick and it seems to be trending in a better direction in the state. She asked if Methuen is matching that. Mayor Perry reported that Methuen cases have dropped. There are still significant numbers of people getting infected. While the trend numbers are heading downward, this last uptick is concerning to a lot of Board of Health individuals because it is the time of year with the warmer weather when typically the tread goes way down. The uptick has been unsettling for a lot of the doctors and hospitalizations have increased, not so much in Methuen. We have not had a hospitalization or death in the last month. He will send statistics to Council. Councilor DiZoglio commended the Mayor and his administration on Restaurant Week. He participated in that as well and received good feedback from the residents. It is a good start. We could do a lot more next year; but he wanted to give kudos to the Mayor and his administration for that. Mayor Perry agreed we could do a lot more. He also received great feedback from the restaurant owners. Many of these are the life port of our community and they offered fantastic deals. There were some great deals out there such as John Vargas at Bada Bing, to Borelli’s, the Fitzgeralds at Mann’s, the Irish Cottage all of these places even though some of them are chains that are owned by a local individual Jersey Mike’s. The feedback was terrific from all of them. He is in the process of writing each of them a personal thank you. One of the things that he would like to do is a food truck event for several days. When he went to the Lahey last week, he drove down Rt 114 and went by a “food truck park”. He thought it was a fantastic idea. His said we need to do something like that in Methuen, find a space where we could put some hookups like campers so we could host a food truck event at various times throughout the year. Councilor DiZoglio said the property across from the fire station comes to mind. Maybe we could look at that type of property. He asked the Mayor for updates on properties around town: the PMA property 7 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Mayor Perry said we are pursuing a $250,000 earmark that State Representative Linda Dean Campbell helped Methuen get through the Governor. With that, we are going to do a forecast of how we see it going. There is a bidder on the property at this point in time and we are trying to work with them to make an amenable solution for both the developer and the city conscious as we are of the historic element of that property. It is moving along. It may not seem like it is. That $250,000 earmark he and Director Wilson believe it will open up a lot of avenues for us. We’ve engaged with Mass Community Development as well as the developer who has made an offer on the property. We continue to work with the best interest of the city at heart. In response to Councilor DiZoglio, the Mayor said it would probably take another year. Jack Wilson, Community Development Director, said our time is really the negotiations going on between the perspective buyer and the property owner. We are sort of guiding them through the process as the Mayor indicated. The leverage is the zoning. It rests with us and you as we do any zoning changes. We made it very clear to them that we need to make sure that whatever we see has got to do everything to preserve this community asset from now until forever and not lose it. That has been a position we’ve maintained with them all along. If we were successful in obtaining these funds it would give us not so much additional leverage because quite frankly, we have quite a bit of it. But it would give them the sense that we are there as good faith partners. Partners sincerely, not just as between the developers and the property owners but with the city as an interested party as a stake holder. Councilor DiZoglio asked for an update on Branch Street. Mayor Perry reported they are moving towards a Purchase and Sale as we speak. The City Solicitor would probably be able to give you the best update on that. Solicitor Rossetti said it is still an ongoing process but we are in regular touch with their attorneys and the Letter of Intent has been signed and we are working toward the P & S and also working toward the required notice in the central register for the handicap position. Councilor Simard congratulated the Mayor and the Chief for recent appointments and the Mayor, as the appointing authority, for trusting in the Chief and doing the right thing. Dave Souther has been a leader even before he became a Sergeant. He thanked the Mayor for bringing this appointment to Council tonight. Mayor Perry commented that the city doesn’t have the best track record as far as civil service is concerned. In the last two years we have rectified that, especially since this Chief has come on board. We followed the letter of the law and that is extremely important. There is still an outstanding investigation of the entire civil service process from prior to this that we are awaiting and whatever the findings are from that, in many cases we will have addressed them. If there are other findings we will address them to make sure that we make them part of the process. He thanked the Chief. Councilor Zeigler echoed Councilor DiZoglio’s statements about restaurant week. She recalled a few months ago when she and the Mayor had a conversation about restaurant week and the Mayor was fully on board and committed to hosting it. She heard so much great feedback. She participated and is looking forward to it next year. Councilor Zeigler asked if a family member is looking to get COVID tests, are there still COVID tests available through the city. Mayor Perry responded they are available. All they have to do is contact the Department of Public Health and the tests will be made available to them. Councilor Zeigler asked if it is not on the website, if it could be placed on the website. Mayor Perry noted it is on the website but probably should be brought forward. Councilor Zeigler asked if there are any additional updates on the ARPA wish list. 8 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING The CAFO responded there is nothing to report at this point. Mayor Perry noted they did meet with ANF with Sean Cronin and it was a good meeting. Specific discussions were around Branch Street and the purchase of it. They made some recommendations. He would still like to see them come up to approve or disprove some of the things. Our relationship with ANF has greatly improved and the discussions are ongoing. Councilor Zeigler asked if the listing of the projects made it to the website yet. If it is, could we put it more front and center. Mayor Perry said it is on the city website and was put in the newsletter last month. Councilor Zeigler noted that several months ago we heard the lawsuit against big pharma relative to opiate addiction that the state did win it and we were going to be getting an allocation of that. She asked if any additional was received. Mayor Perry deferred to the Solicitor. There is information coming in and it’s telling us what we are going to get and what we can use it for. Solicitor Rossetti explained the city got notification through the Attorney General’s office. This information is available on the Attorney General’s website regarding estimated payouts (18 payments) over the course of ten years. The total collective payment for the City of Methuen at the conclusion of the payout period is about 1.5 million. (The CAFO said just over 1.5 million) The Solicitor further stated these are estimates only. The amounts of actual payments will vary dependent upon revenues received by the settling parties. Under the terms of the settlement municipalities receiving settlement money are required to devote settlement money to that cause and it comes in several different forms but its been made clear to the municipalities that they have to use the settlement funds to fight opiate addition whether it is through education and training, through treatment, through making Narcan more readily available for first responders to use to those who suffer an overdose. These are all laid out in the settlement agreement. Public Service Grants: None Licenses: None Contracts: C-22-71 Sterilis Solutions, LLC, 85 Swanson Road, Boxborough, MA 01719 for a Medical Sharps and Waste Processing Machine in the Amount of $52,800 MOTION BY: Councilor Saba, seconded by Councilor Simard to approve. Councilor Finocchiaro commented this is a great community service that many family and friends utilize. The quote recommends preventative maintenance. The contract itself doesn’t say whether or not that maintenance is actually included in the price or if that is an additional fee or if that is maintenance that would be under someone else with certain knowledge to do safely. Mayor Perry said his understanding is the maintenance is included in the contract and subsequent years we’ll pay somebody to do that. He agreed the service would be done twice, every six months. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) C-22-72 Richard D’Ambrosia, Inc., 166 White Street, Weymouth, MA 02190 for Safe Pathways for Seniors in the Amount of $68,028.10 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saba. 9 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Chair Beauregard explained the work under the contract would include the construction of a new concrete and granite curb sidewalk along a portion of Orchard Street. It also entails the construction of two new ADA compliant pedestrian grants at the intersection of Orchard Street and Mystic Street. Councilor Saffie recused herself. She is employed by Mass DOT and this is one of the four or five grants that comes through her office. Councilor Saffie left the room and returned after the vote. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 7 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty), 1 recusal (Clr. Saffie) C-22-73 Motorola Solutions, Inc., 123 Tice Boulevard, Suite 202, Woodcliff, NJ 7677 for Communications Equipment and Services for the Methuen Police and Fire Departments in the Amount of $2,425,809.29. MOTION BY: Councilor Faretra, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. Mayor Perry explained this is a replacement of radio systems throughout the city that are outdated. This is much needed equipment. This is going to replace the radios in vehicles, handheld Central Fire Station, Methuen PD, etc. It is an upgrade to make sure that Methuen Fire and Methuen Police maintain continuity in communication. This was brought to Council as part of the Capital Improvement Plan. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) C-22-74 J.M. Goldson, LLC, 4228 Washington Street, Roslindale, MA 02131 for Master Plan 2022 in the Amount of $75,000 MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saffie to approve. Chair Beauregard explained the letter Council received notes that this is the first of what will be two contracts. This contract covers the first two phases of the Master Plan project and a forthcoming contract would cover the later two phases. Councilor Finocchiaro referred to provision #18 on page 6, highlighted “findings confidential as any reports information dated etc. given to a prepared or assembled by the contractor agreement which the city requests to be kept as confidential and not be made available to any individual organization by the contractor without the prior written approval of the city”. She asked for confirmation from the Mayor that there wasn’t anything that he planned to keep confidential in the event that there was something in particular that would go into the Master Plan that he wanted to be kept confidential that he would inform the City Council of such. Mayor Perry said nothing that he foresees. Councilor Finocchiaro noted it is really important to go through our Master Plan and we have been lagging behind and it is a really important step. It is crucial that residents are a part of this process. She asked what steps will be taken to increase residents’ participation in this process. Director Wilson explained a steering committee will be an umbrella committee made up of various stake holders, institutional builders, residential, government, educational, will kick off the process once we have this contractor on board and then the next several months is a deep dive into neighborhoods and into sectors of the community. We shouldn’t leave any corner of this city uncovered in terms of what we want to do with looking to the future in the Master Plan and also no sector of the community as well. They will be embarking on a neighborhood by neighborhood and an interest by interest approach to this and in a very deliberative manner with the support of the contractor and Council’s support on the second piece of this contract. 10 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Councilor Finocchiaro noted on that same page it mentions officials “not to benefit and it is applicable to contracts pertaining to Economic and Community Development department. No members or delegates to the Congress of the United States of America, no commissioner shall be admitted to charity partner or benefit here from”. This is a planning process that specifically is not supposed to benefit any of our government. Chair Beauregard said kudos to this Mayor, the first Mayor since Mayor Manzi to really push for the new Master Plan. He is thankful for the work of Director Wilson and Vice-Chair of the Economic Development Committee who have been pushing for this too. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent C-22-75 An Employment Contract by and Between the City of Methuen and Maggie Duprey. MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Faretra to approve. Councilor Saba noted the previous meeting when this was presented to Council for the first time, Council had concerns. He listed a lot of concerns with this contract and this contract before Council has satisfied all of those concerns but two. He did email the Mayor last week with the last two concerns that he thought did not tie in with Chapter 278. Both of those issues were corrected and dealt with. It is a very fair contract to both the CAFO and the city. It is not an easy job. He told her that last week during the budget process. We don’t always agree but she’s working as hard as she possibly can and doing a great job. He is in support of this. Councilor Simard agreed with Councilor Saba and with the Mayor when he says that she’s a very valuable employee. It is evident especially in the last several weeks with the budget workshops. Since he has been in office, she’s done a lot of service for the city. He is in favor of this. Councilor Zeigler echoed what Councilor Saba said and also Councilor Simard. When Council first looked at the contract there were some concerns that we did talk about on the floor. The revisions were made. She is in support of this contract, especially because in the last year we’ve seen our bond rating continue to go up which is not easy to do. It takes a lot of strategic planning. She appreciates that there is an effort to really steward the finances of the city and allow us to do more. That’s going to have a great impact for years and years to come for the city. She is in support of this and would like to see us continuing to make some stronger financial decisions. Councilor Faretra echoed what Councilors said about this contract. As a Councilor and as a taxpayer he is happy that the Mayor and Ms. Duprey heard what everybody was saying at the meeting and came together and worked what was best for the city and got something done that was feasible for both sides. What happened at that last meeting wasn’t fair to Ms. Duprey here with what some of citizens were saying about her. She’s made corrections for the mis-comings of previous Councils and Mayors to where we are now vs. where we were when she came in. She is very approachable. He texts her and emails her with multiple questions. She has been very responsive. He appreciates that because he doesn’t have all the answers. It is great to be able to ask all those questions in the absence of a fiscal analyst where we don’t have those positions. He will vote yes on this contract. He thanked Ms. Duprey for coming back to the table with the Mayor with a fair contract for both sides. Councilor Finocchiaro said she agrees with everything that has been stated so far in that it is great to see that our reaction to this contract was able to have the effect where everybody went back to the table and came up with something that is more reasonable. She wants to make sure that she understands the most recent information as she understands it’s gone back and forth and there has also been discussions with the funding and different things. To the CAFO on the second page of the 11 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING document she has it has a 6.7% increase, then a 2% increase, then a 2% increase, she asked if that is accurate. Ms. Duprey responded, yes, it is accurate. Councilor Finocchiaro noted we have had conversations during the budget process about trying to hold the line on as many of the opportunities that we have to hold the line with. There are contractual obligations; but there have been a number of employees that she has proposed to hold the line on contracts. She does agree we have made a lot of progress, this contract goes further than she feels comfortable with given the very large increase that we have to the rest of our budget at this time. But that doesn’t take anything away from the good work that’s been done. She is concerned about the timing and all of the other increases that we have throughout the city. She needs to be consistent so its not treating anybody any differently. That has been her position with all of the other spots Council was able to make those cuts and that’s her position with this one as well. The CAFO is putting forward a lot of time and that is to be commended. But for the community to be going through the amount of pages and the millions of dollars in increase that we have this year, it is her concern for an uptick in that line. This just goes a little too far for her. It is not a reflection on the individual. Councilor DiZoglio commented that for too long the city played with its finances like it was a town. It wasn’t used to being in a growth spurt. We played politics and we spent money like it was nothing and not paying attention to it. We also had unqualified people sitting in those seats. To this day, let’s remember four years back when we were all scrambling to find someone and we were cleaning up the mess. This CAFO cleaned up that mess. Look at where we are with the administration in our finances and bond rating. This CAFO got us there. What was said at the last meeting was disrespectful of the CAFO and the person who sits there. Some residents looked at the money and thought, again the past. We’ve got to open up our mind. We’ve got to be progressive and at the same time, we’ve got to move forward. We are a city. We have to start spending like a city and start looking like a city. That takes growth and we will only be lucky to have this person here in this seat until 2025. That’s only their contract so let’s continue with this progressiveness, this growth, this improvement because the CAFO has gotten us very far. This Council will change every six years. The Mayor’s seat will change every six years. Each term it will change. These positions that Council approves, they stay with us or without us. We need a CAFO that knows what she is doing or knows what they’re doing. In this case, Maggie Duprey, he has complete and utter respect for her and it shows in this contract renegotiation. Look at what was taken away, look at what was renegotiated from sick time to vacation time. She gave back all of that. That shows the true determination in wanting to be a part of this community and doing the job. He appreciates that. This will be a yes vote for him. Chair Beauregard agreed with everything his colleagues said for the most part in terms of approving this contract. However as several people have eluded to the last time we talked about the initial version of the contract, one of things you are supposed to do as the Chair is prevent people from wading into personalities and sharing misinformation and such. That was happening at the podium. That night we had people insinuating that you are all sorts of things that were awful. He owns that because he should have gaveled that out of order. He apologized to the CAFO. It was inappropriate and we can’t let that happen again. He is grateful for the CAFO’s service and will support this contract. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 7 yes, 1 no (Clr. Finocchiaro), 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) 12 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Other Officers and Committee Reports Chair Beauregard updated the public regarding the Position of Assistant Clerk of the City Council. There is now a vacancy in that position. He will reconvene the search committee to discuss the next steps. Councilor Saba reported that the Finance Committee did discuss the possibility of bringing in a fiscal analyst, opening that search again. They are working on a posting and could present that to the Council. The question here is “what are the feelings of the Council, in general, or he could ask people to reach out afterwards”. The Finance Committee is prepared to put together a search for a fiscal analyst and whether or not it would be beneficial at this point is something Council would have to discuss. He’d appreciate if everyone could reach out at some point and let him know so he could advise the Finance Committee on moving forward. He took this opportunity to say that he did promise to put the Charter back out in front of the Council and is working with the Solicitor. How we have to do this is detailed. He’s been working with the Solicitor quite a bit on this. Because of everything going on right now he needs the Solicitor’s input and his research. Hopefully, they will have that in front of the Council for the July meeting. Councilor Faretra reported that the Committee for Athletic and Recreation Enhancement met earlier this month. He thanked Councilor Saffie for stepping in for him chairing the meeting. They wanted to provide an update of projects that were approved by this Council. The first one is Gill Avenue. The design is 100% complete. Chris Huntress is pricing out the project. The city has $200,000 for the construction which does not cover the cost for the basketball court and the dog park along with the ADA piece. They are looking to use $250,000 from the Capital Improvement Plan for FY’23 and add it to the project cost to try to complete as much as the total project as possible to prevent it against having to do it in phases. The outdoor fitness equipment that was approved by this Council from the $50,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield, the city will need to provide approximately $110,000 to cover the remaining costs which will come from the Rail Trail money contract and coordination of funds currently being reviewed by Procurement. At Forest Lake, the Disability Commission offered to give a little under $15,000 to help cover the costs of total replacement of the playground. Right now, Steve Angelo is working with the Solicitor to figure out the procurement part and about accepting commission money to go forward with that. The $50,000 grant has to be closed by June 30th. At Burnham Road, they’re bringing in a contractor to replace the roof and add padlocks on the facility doors. This is paid for by a $15,000 grant and needs to be completed by June 30th. Also, Neil Playstead emergency repairs have been completed and now they are finishing cosmetic updates to the fields, putting up fencing, and sod, etc. They are waiting on updates from ANF, etc. when it came to the tennis courts and the other projects that were part of their wish list. Unfinished Business: TR-22-48 A Resolution Authorizing a Transfer of $610,585 from Free Cash to Be Transferred to DPW Other Expenses to Fund Necessary Snow and Ice Expenditures. MOTION BY: Councilor Saffie, seconded by Councilor Faretra to approve. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent 13 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING TR-22-49 A Resolution Authorizing a Transfer of $1,000 from Administration and Finance Other Expenses to Be Transferred to Administration and Finance Personal Expenses to Fund Necessary Expenditures MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saffie to approve. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) TR-22-50 A Resolution Authorizing a Transfer of $59,000 to the Technology Department Other Budget Line, or Which $39,000 Shall Be Transferred from the Technology Department Personal Service Budget Line and $20,000 Shall Be Transferred from the Debt Service Budget Line to Fund Necessary Year-End Expenditures MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor DiZoglio. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) TR-22-51 A Resolution Authorizing a Transfer of $80,000 from the Debt Service Budget Line of Which $45,000 Shall be Transferred to the Accounting Other Expenses Budget Line and $35,000 Shall be Transferred to the Emp0loyee Benefits Budget Line to Fund Necessary Year-End Expenditures MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Faretra to approve. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) TR-22-52 was taken out of order. Ordinances: None New Business Resolutions: TR-22-54 A Resolution Authorizing the Acceptance of a Monetary Gif of $10 to Provide for Continuing Operations of the Methuen Cares Initiative MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) TR-22-55 A Resolution Authorizing the Acceptance of an Automated External Defibrillator Equipment Program Award of $1,972.05 from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research (EPA requested) MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor Saffie to approve. Chair Beauregard shared a story about his late grandfather who had a heart attack and collapsed. The Sandown police officer on scene had the only cruiser with an AED in the truck and brought his grandfather back. He lived another fifteen years. His grandfather became so passionate about having these in as many public places as possible he traveled to Washington with Senator Kennedy. That resulted in a lot of great progress in the years since. He wanted to share that and emphasize the importance of these devices in as many places in our community. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) 14 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING MOTION BY: Councilor Zeigler, seconded by Councilor DiZoglio to attach an EPA. Councilor Faretra noted when this was written Council didn’t have another meeting scheduled. But we do have a meeting on June 14th and it could be placed on the June 14th agenda. Chair Beauregard asked if there is a deadline on the acceptance. The CAFO responded, yes, it has to be spent. The city has to purchase the AED by June 30th that is when the grant ends. When we put this together, we only had this meeting. Time is of the essence. Councilor Faretra asked if delaying this to June 14th would be a hinderance. The CAFO responded, it could be, depending on the availability of the product. The EPA was driven by the fact that this was the first meeting. The sooner they could get it the better. UPON ROLL CALL: (EPA) 7 yes, 1 no (Clr. Saba), 1 absent TR-22-56 A Resolution Authorizing the Acceptance of a Shared Streets and Spaces Program Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Highway Division in the Amount of $392,659.71. MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to approve. Councilor Saffie left the room and did not participate. Councilor Zeigler said she is glad the city was able to get this grant. It is definitely a competitive grant and not easy to get. She noticed they didn’t fund us entirely. They did fund most of it, 85% of it was covered. The remaining 15% is just the control of the contingency that was put in there about $69,393.11. She asked Brian Keating if he knew what the plan is to cover the control and contingency that was put into the proposal for this grant. Brian Keating, Community Development and Planning, said what usually happens is they put it out to bid. When the bids come in, from there they assign a contract where they do some valuing engineering together with the engineer and see where we can cut or where we can find savings. Hopefully we can cover most of the project that way. Of course, there is the contingency as well but that is what we would normally do. The application was based on the engineer’s estimates. They put it out to bid and see what comes back. We’ll go from there and see if we can reach a good resolution with the contractor. Councilor Zeigler said she is in favor of this. She knows that bids are coming in high these days. Even with estimates you got a month ago, there’s no telling. She would like an update for this in terms of where we fall to see if we can get close to what we were given and if not for us to talk early about what the plan is to cover the rest hopefully within budget and not having to go to Free Cash or Stabilization to cover the remaining. Its going to be really helpful to the infrastructure of the city. Brian Keating said this is in partnership with the MVRTA with the new senior housing this will give us some bus shelters there. We are excited about the project. Councilor Zeigler said the design looks amazing. It is in a highly trafficked area of town. Councilor Finocchiaro noted she is appreciative that this is moving forward. These changes on that portion of Broadway is something she has advocated for at the state and local level for years. It has been frustrating to see things moving so slowly, even talking to Mass DOT and they’ve been great about looking at the data. This is so important. It’s not just the convenience and the accessibility that is added. The concerns on this portion of Broadway are of grave safety concern and there are families who have had life changing experiences on this stretch of road. It is very, very serious. To her, this is a great step in the right direction. We are going to need more assistance on this portion of the road, 15 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING above and beyond what this covers. She is looking forward to doing that. Further down Broadway has similar issues. There are a lot of residents in the area who both use public transportation or walk to the surrounding stores and the lack of ability to cross is also a grave safety concern. She couldn’t be happier that these changes are being made but also cognizant that we have a long way to go to make that road safe. Brian Keating noted between the Shared Streets Grant, the Housing Choice Initiative and the CDBG Program, everything from Gaunt Square down to the Lawrence line has been or will soon be all ADA compliant, new crosswalks, new sidewalks. The three state programs working together have given us that whole new stretch, safe sidewalks and safe pathways. Councilor DiZoglio said the illustrations of the new transit shelters. They have seats and looking like they have a backdrop in it. He asked if we have considered who will be sponsoring these or will the city be paying to keep up with the maintenance on them. Brian Keating said MVRTA has said that they have a maintenance contract. They take on the maintenance. Councilor DiZoglio asked if they would be sponsoring any adds on them or any marketing materials or is that something the city could potentially do? Brian Keating responded that he would need to get some clarification. He will bring that up with hem and see what their policy is. He believes the question was asked and he is trying to remember the answer. He believes the city can put up some ads on that. Councilor DiZoglio noted some cities make money off of that. Even though it is small advertisement money, it could be a restaurant sponsoring, a citywide initiative, things like that, COVID signs, etc. especially if we are going to be seeing these things happen more and more we start to produce more compliant or clean up the bus stop areas. These are things he wants to think outside the box. Brian agreed to bring the question to Noah Burger MVRTA tomorrow and he will get a response back to Council. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 7 yes, 1 absent, 1 recusal (Clr. Saffie out of the room) REQUEST OF COUNCILORS Councilor Saffie returned to the room. Councilor Saba said a few weeks ago the Council denied the request to use Free Cash to pay for the CARES funding that we owe the state. He asked the CAFO if they’ve been working to find that money within the budget. The CAFO responded, yes, they’ve been actively working towards all of our projections for the end of the year. She is confident they are going to be able to do it. She will need the support of the Council for a transfer towards the end of the year. Councilor Saba asked if Council would have to have a special meeting to approve that. The CAFO explained the city has until July 15th in order to do that. If not before, at the July 5th meeting. It is usually two reads so she is trying to get as close to the end of the year as she can and still be responsible to make sure we are going to hit everything we are going to hit. Councilor Saba said it is important for us to find it and pay it rather than have the state come in and take it from the Cherry Sheet. Councilor Faretra asked for an update on where the camera program stands. 16 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING Chief McNamara said he and the Mayor have a meeting with the IT Director Louis Santiago on Wednesday to talk about that. The contractor, Lantelle, has been out surveying different areas across the city determining where we could place the cameras and where we might struggle to place others. The contractor has asked the city to agreed on where the first five or ten might go just so they could more or less test the functionality. We want to site down take a look at what we think are obvious locations where the first five or ten are going to go across the city, major thorough fares and what have you, are potentially the most agreeable cameras and that will allow the company to test the functionality of the overall system. And then from there he and the Mayor endeavor to have those workshops they promised to have at various locations throughout the city to allow citizens input into where the remaining cameras will go. Right now, we will have forty-six of them, perhaps more. They are eager to get that program going and are getting closer and closer to full implementation. Councilor Faretra asked about staffing. Chief McNamara said the department is well positioned. He is grateful Council supported the position of Director of Crime Analysis and Disorder. Director Greevey is off to a wonderful start. As a result of that, they’ve been able to take that transitioning of that function away from one of our employees and moving in a different direction. The idea will be that employee (Gina Scanlon) is going to take a significant role in the implementation of this camera program. She’ll be someone who is functioning as a forensic analyst of that video. One of the things that he feels is not completely understood is how that process works. These cameras are passively recording throughout the city. There will be monitors in the dispatch area, but for the most part the true value of the cameras is they are recording for us so a police officer will go out and do their typical investigation that might involve knocking on doors, trying to identify witnesses, the same that they have always done. When they are done, they are going to come back into the police department, they are going to log onto the system themselves and determine if there was a camera that might have captured somewhat is valuable to this investigation. If they find something that’s valuable, which is typically a car coming or going from the scene or perhaps captured on video itself. If they find that, what they do is they book mark it in the software and they send it to the forensic video panelist, who then will try to enhance that video, perhaps extract the license plate or other identifying information and then pull it out of the system and mark it as evidence so they have it later for court purposes. That is the functionality of how it works. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into what the forensic video analyst does. The other portion is what the police officers do in the field. It is just another tool for them to further their investigations and get leads that they wouldn’t have had previously. In the past there are crimes that are being solved in our neighboring agency across the border that would never have been solved without the input of the public camera system. We will start to see the value of that in Methuen and hope to be able to expand on it in time. Councilor DiZoglio said he was walking in the Memorial Day Parade with many of you and it was a great event. However, a lot of residents came up to him after the parade about some of the road lines and the parking spaces along Hampshire and Pleasant and MA 113 that they are non-existent. He asked if the Mayor’s office could look into downtown and the 113 and Hampshire Street area on parking spaces where the lines have faded or no longer exist. A lot of the restaurant areas on Hampshire Street, there’s no parking spots anymore. People are just double parking beside each other or parking very closely in spots where there weren’t parking spaces before and now becoming parking spots. Also, earlier it was eluded to that the field was damaged during this weekend’s graduation. He received some calls about that too about the situation that occurred during graduation. If there was any damage, he 17 METHUEN CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022 @ 7:00 P.M. GREAT HALL, SEARLES BUILDING would like to see if there is a report on it and a cost evaluation of the damage done and what the city will be doing to take care of that damage and who they will be holding accountable for it. Mayor Perry indicated he would get a report to Council. ANY OTHER BUSINESS FOR THE GOOD AND WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY Councilor Zeigler reported that Methuen Community Studios are holding a fundraiser, “music bingo” on June 24th. Tickets are $30 per person. Anyone interested can call Carol Ann Rousseau at 978- 689-8621. She encouraged everyone to come out and support our local access public television. Councilor Zeigler announced that the Timony and the Tenney are hosting a “Blast from the Past Prom”. Tickets are $40 per person. The event will take place on June 17th starting at 8:00 p.m. at the Merrimack Valley Country Club. If you are interested in purchasing tickets, there is an event on Facebook and a survey form to fill out. The Timony PTO is heading it up in collaboration with the Tenney PTO. She encouraged everyone to participate. It is an 80s theme. ADJOURN MOTION BY: Councilor DiZoglio, seconded by Councilor Zeigler to adjourn. UPON ROLL CALL VOTE: 8 yes, 1 absent (Clr. McCarty) I do hereby certify that at a meeting which a quorum was present, the foregoing minutes were adopted by the Methuen City Council by a unanimous vote on July 5th 2022. Linda Gagnon COUNCIL CLERK 18